The Transparent Life: Open heart.. Open Hands.. Open Life

Reconciled Week One Day Five

We made it to the end of week one! Today let’s look at what it truly means to be reconciled. I’m praying you have a beautiful day with your loving Father.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 NIV says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

The definition of reconciled as defined in Merriam-Webster is “to restore to friendship or harmony.”

Sometimes I struggle with understanding why a holy God would want to restore friendship and harmony with an unholy me. I know I can’t be alone in this..

John 15:13-16 ESV “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.You are my friends if you

do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants,for the servantdoes not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

God created us for fellowship. He chose us to be his companions, the object of His affection. The Bible is such a beautiful story of his love pursuit of us.

God restored our friendship with Him through Jesus. He chose us and reconciled us, not counting our sins against us. Isn’t that the sweetest? He knew we wouldn’t measure up. He knew we needed a Savior, and so he sent Jesus. He reconciled us to himself through to cross. Because of the cross, we aren’t just servants expected to live under all these rules and regulations, we are sons and daughters.

Romans 8:15-17 NIV says “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[f] And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Have you been living your life through the mentality of a servant? Are you striving to follow a list of rules and regulations? Are you tired and worn down because your list of right and wrong is mentally exhausting? Give it to Jesus. I’m not suggesting you go and live a lifestyle of sin… I am simply suggesting we switch our focus off of right and wrong and onto Jesus. He has to be the driving force. He is what makes us right with God, not our good deeds. Let’s take up our roles as sons and daughters and drop our chains of slavery.

Prayer:

God I repent of making my salvation about me. I repent of my desire to earn approval and I make the declaration that from this day on I will drop my chains of slavery and step into the promise of sonship. I am a co-heir with Christ. No one is righteous, and so I will stop placing my trust in my worldly righteousness, and place all of my trust in Jesus. Bless me with the mind of Christ. I want to be free from every sin that so easily entangle me. I hide my life in Christ today and I invite you to teach me how to walk as a child and not a slave. Thank you for salvation.. thank you for grace.. thank you for making me a child of God.